Wonderful Tunes Provided By Friends. Wild Tangents Provided By Me.

I heard this from a friend who heard it from a friend who… was apparently channeling Styx… but that’s beside the point. It’s awesome so I had to post it! It’s called “Prisencolinensinainciusol” and it’s a 1972 song by Italian singer/comedian Adriano Celentano. According to Wikipedia, Celentano said the song’s gibberish lyrics were about how people are unable to communicate with each other effectively. The rest of the internet says this guy is the Italian Sid Caesar when it comes to imitating foreign languages without actually speaking them and that this is an excellent example of American English gibberish. You be the judge. This video is from the Italian show RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana).

This may be a statement about poor communication but it sure does speak to me! It sounds so much like English that my brain tries to make sense of those words. I just know he’s saying “Baby get your cummerbunds tight” at one point. I imagine this is what our music sounds like to people who don’t speak English, completely incomprehensible but irresistibly catchy and just plain fun! Also, once you learn to pronounce it, Prisencolinensinainciusol is super fun to say.